Help Help me enable writing access on SD card, Lollipop

[deltaforce]

Hello folks,

I have been struggling with this a lot lately, as my internal storage is filling up fast and phone is slowing down significantly.

I have Play edition S4, with lollipop OS. I have been reading that google has enabled writing access but I can't do it. I use PlayerFM for my podcasts and it can not download podcasts on external storage but does very well on internal storage. Same happens when I try to move file from internal to external card, it fails. I can't delete files from SD card.. so on so forth.

I came across this article where it tells you how to enable the access. I don't know how to get this screen otherwise (please tell me) but I get this screen if I use ES3 file manager to move files. The problem is, in second image where it shows you 'Show SD card' on this page, I get 'Hide SD card'. And on the next image, it does show SD card to this author but in my case, it does not.

Anybody knows whats going on and/or how I should fix this?
Do I need to restore phone to factory settings to get this working? It is really driving me mad.

Thanks a lot in advance for all suggestions.

P.S. I posted this thread in this section instead of S4 for larger audience. Hope thats OK.

 

[Hadron]

It's fine to post here as long as the problem doesn't turn out to be related to Samsung's implementation of Lollipop (even for a Play edition I'm pretty sure it's Samsung who actually build the software), in which case you might be better off in the S4 section.

I don't have a removable card in my phone, so can't test any of this. However, I suspect the answer to your PlayerFM problem lies in the sentence "Apps must ask the user to grant write access to a folder on the SD card." from the page you linked - my guess would be that PlayerFM hasn't been updated for this feature and doesn't ask.

I can't test the rest, but if your file manager is getting "Hide SD card" that suggests that the system thinks it's already showing it. Without a device that has this hardware I can't actually test further, but have you tried toggling hide then show?

 

[deltaforce]

Thanks for comment.

This is not PlayerFM specific problem. I have faced this issue with many apps, VLC, MX Player, ES3 etc etc. So I am assuming its a 'global' problem.
When I try to transfer the file from internal memory to SD card using ES3, it gives me the screens showed on the linked page. While ES3 mentions that it has writing ability on the card, it does not write and shows me the screens, which is odd, because if it already has writing access, why does it show me that screen? Makes sense?